Cheesy fun, utterly forgettable, and if it wasn't Andre Norton, I likely would have passed, based on time period and cover alone. Or mocked it. Does it make a difference? Sure--she was trying to muscle in on a market dominated by white men and the best way to do that was to do what they did better (only backwards and in heels). Did it work? Probably, because she's now known as one of the 'greats,' and I could actually find her books in the local library. Although to my twelve year-old eyes, 'Andre' was probably a man's name and I was surprised when I eventually found out the author I liked so much was a female, so there's that.

"A Survey auction—a Free Trader got a chance at one of those maybe once in a lifetime. And that was how fortunes were made."


Is this book one of her better ones? Not really. But it's fun, in an early Star Trek kind of way. Say, Star Trek OG mixed with some Next-Gen democracy (but still no women on the flight because, natch). Good heavens, I'm digressing. Unlike this story, which stays pretty on point. Young Wesley Dane graduates Starfleet and gets placed with the Free Traders. But this is 1960, and even back then, future big money called the shots, so their small crew rolls the dice on a contract. Adventures ensue. I wasn't sure what would happen, mostly because this wasn't a time period/subgenre I ever read (pulp 60s scifi paperbacks), only spoofs on the genre. It is mostly plot driven with enough fleshing out of main and side characters to make them interesting, if somewhat stereotypical. There's a background to her world-building that seems fascinating (her usual 'relics') but as usual, there's not much discovered/known. Entertaining enough for part of a plane ride, but not captivating enough that I didn't set it down. There are a lot of exclamation points in the writing, but Norton still sneaks in some lessons for the young protagonist. Call it 'neutral good' on the role-playing grid.

“Listen, my innocent child,” drawled Kamil, “for every law the Federation produces in their idealist vacuum there is some bright boy—or boys—working day and night to break it. I’m not telling you how they work it, but I’m willing to wager all my cut of this particular venture, that it’s being done."

Read the next? Who knows? I hear it's free on the web somewhere, so I might, if I remember to look for it and download it when I'm not on vacation.

rounding up to a three on the GR scale, because, well, neutral good deserves a little extra, right?

Two and a half, rounding up, because I actually finished it. ( )

A new recruit to the Federation’s equivalent of the merchant marines, the Traders, gets a disappointing assignment to an independent trader ship, the Solar Queen, rather than a well-to-do corporate franchise as he’d hoped. On his first trip out, the crew decides to take a risky gamble by bidding virtually all their money on trading rights to a newly surveyed planet, and what at first appears to be a bust turns out to have surprising secrets and evil outlaws.

A good old-fashioned space opera that has aged surprisingly well. The characters are bland and entirely male; the action-adventure is clearly the draw of this type of story. ( )

Great space opera and did not feel dated to me, despite the fact that it is 65 years old now.

The story is told from the perspective of a new cargo apprentice, traveling on his first Trade ship. I liked Dane and look forward to reading more about him and his shipmates. ( )

Norton, Andre (a.k.a. Andrew North). Sargasso of Space. 1955. Solar Queen No. 1. Open Road Media, 2014.
Andre Norton’s Solar Queen series is not one of the enduring science fiction monuments of the 1950s, such as Fahrenheit 451, I, Robot, or The Stars My Destination; it is not even up there with Starship Troopers. It is, nevertheless, a book I probably read and enjoyed when I was 11 or 12 in the 1950s, and I enjoy it still. Apprentice Cargo-Master Dane of the independent trade Solar Queen is a likeable young man who learns from experience negotiating with aliens on newly opened planets. The crew of the Queen are a well-individualized set of characters who have believable relationships with each other. Sadly, Norton still felt compelled to make space travel a boy's club, and the cool-your-rockets space opera slang is hard to take, though it is no worse than Heinlein got away with in some of his juveniles. Still 4 stars from me. ( )

Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton

This is a well-paced adventure with a mystery to solve.

The crew of the Solar Queen, a free-trader starship, buys commercial rights to a distant world at an auction. At first, they are disappointed to learn that the planet is just a war-ravaged remnant of what it once was, but after arriving there they find much more than they had bargained for.

The story is well written and quite absorbing, but it does not possess much introspective depth. Characterization of crew members is also a little bland, although descriptions of their different personalities are distinct enough. There are no female characters, and even the shipboard cat (Sinbad) is male. The book was originally published under the pseudonym "Andrew North".

It has a couple of elements which I really like, such as a planet with ancient advanced technology left behind by a vanished alien race, and a graveyard of crashed spaceships, some of which are at least centuries old. I found the archaeological aspect intriguing, along with the idea that the geometry and colors of "Forerunner" buildings and structures cause human observers to feel considerable unease.

Although some of the equipment used by the crew seems primitive by today's standards (for example, their communications devices and perhaps even the shape of the spacecraft), these details are not hard to forgive considering that this story was first published in 1955. I enjoyed the explanation of the dangers of hyperspace travel, and I certainly think that there are plenty of other fascinating ideas and descriptions in this work to keep the reader engaged.





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